Rubber producers are turning to forest certification to “EUDR-proof” supply chains – a massive undertaking given that 6 million “smallholders” are responsible for farming rubber trees worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes as more than dozens of rubber companies from across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos\u2014all under the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG)\u2014are working with the Vietnam Academy of Forest Science – Vietnam’s PEFC scheme and PEFC Asia-Pacific to provide EUDR compliance training ahead of the rollout of Europe’s signature deforestation laws, which are set to come into effect in December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it stands, VRG has invested more than $78 billion to establish extensive rubber plantations across Southeast Asia\u2014more than 120,000 hectares of plantations in Vietnam and 90,000 hectares in Cambodia and Laos\u2014a figure that could grow to 142,000 hectares by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Because Cambodia and Lao have not yet developed their national certification system under the PEFC FM Benchmark, 120,000 hectares rubber plantation of VRG in these two countries could not achieve FM certification,” PEFC Asia-Pacific said. “However, with PEFC CoC and PEFC EUDR DDS module, they can comply\/align with EUDR requirements as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes after Wood Central last month reported that without national standards and governments mandating compliance with these standards, producers stand little chance of “closing loops in global supply chains” – with just 1.8% of rubber cultivated in Thailand meets FSC standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge facing the rubber industry is to reward smallholders who commit to forest certification and ensure the total supply chain for rubber products carries a chain of custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n